ABSTRACT Silo – LETTERS TO MY FRIENDS – The Humanist Movement - Silo, the controversial cult leading Argentinean guru, sees the chief problem of society is that we are governed by ‘unprincipled pragmatism’, too much choice facing any individual, and global (American) banking interests. He argues that capitalism has misled us to believe that free-market forces will ultimately relieve us of every problem, from poverty to the environmental crisis. He believes that today everybody looks after only himself. As an alternative, Silo envisages a utopian society where everyone is fully open with everyone else, in terms of what they think, feel and do. He says that we need to move away from individualism to a more communal approach; politics and social discipline should
begin at a
basic neighbourhood level, rather than through state or city. The individual in such a system would be answerable to the people of his family, his street, his neighbourhood and so on. Problems abound with this peerr group pressure arrangement. The opportunities for independent thought and activity would become far more restricted. There would be more tribalism and rivalry between the interconnected neighbourhood networks. Silo wants a return to neighbourhood control, with an end to political administration. Under such a system. The problem with such local, in-your-face government is that it can easily destroy the ambitions of the individual. Despite his contempt for the global economy, Silo has a reverential belief in the importance of money and capital: To him, money is power. He offers no alternative to the use of hard capital. The necessity of a fair rate of exchange for goods and services rendered is understandable, but Silo's passion for Mammon's temple offerings is overbearing. He does argue that many people fear the tyranny of money, and argues to some extent for a redistribution of wealth, and an end to its monopoly by the global bankers. He seems to see money as a necessary social evil. Silo defines
Human beings as consciously evolving from
pain and suffering to the avoidance of such pain in the future.
History is defined as the record of each successful step we have taken towards that goal. Each person or situation that causes pain and suffering is seen by Silo as slowing down our progress. This means that Nazism, the purges of Stalin, etc, are actually at best an interruption of human history. Our full and true human history will begin properly only when we progress away from such tyranny. Siloists believe that being religious or atheist is not an important question. They begin with the idea of the human being as a basic atom of society, and that humanism begins by satisfying the needs of that basic human building block. All else is seen in an existentialist Sartrean sense, as Bad Faith. Siloists are very opposed to western Humanism. They argue that Secularists put atheism before humanitarianism and a political drive to kick-start history again. By challenging religion, Humanists waste time that could be used fighting for the suffering minorities around us. Silo directly rejects the Humanist "Manifestos" of 1933 and 1974. He dislikes them because they were supported by John Dewey, Andre Sakharov and Corliss Lamont. Quite why Silo dislikes these men is not made clear. His opposition to "naturalism" indicates that he regards humanity as above nature, a view which is strongly reflected in his hostile attitude to the Green Party policies on the ecology. Silo opposes the European Green movement for its accusation that humanity has endangered the ecosphere. Silo criticises the environmentalists for not seeing damage to the ecosphere purely in terms of the environment being needed to support human life.. Such a view is one that very few western humanists will agree with. Silo is critical of the opponents of religious
cults and new movements, arguing that the claim of brainwashing made about such cults come chiefly from experts who are usually atheists, So has himself been accused of being a cult leader in Britain, Spain, Canada and Germany. The majority of people involved in promoting awareness of the dangers posed by the new cults are actually not experts or atheists, but the ex-members of the very cults under the spotlight. With the casual use in their literature of such words as treason for their rivals and critics, I believe strongly that Silo and his followers should be regarded with some suspicion.
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